Dear Father
by Page-Mistress
Summary: What some of the heroes of Dota 2 are doing for Father's Day, as revealed in a letter from Rubick to his own father. Some cute, some sad. All in honor of dads.


For my dad, for being my dad.

* * *

Dear Father,

Greetings and best wishes to you, on this day of fathers! I hope this letter finds both you and mother well. It may please you to know that during today's match, I made frequent use of one of your many scepters in honor of you. It may please you further to know that my team of the day achieved victory as well. I do hope you enjoy your gift; it's straight from the stores of the Order of Oyo, and Mangix himself gave it his seal of approval.

I am not alone in sending letters on this day, as it happens. And as I know she'll ask, please I assure mother that I offered and will be using my magic to deliver their letters in addition to my own. The sisters Lina and Rylai are writing a letter to their father together, and are getting along surprising well while they do it. While they have been doing better lately, it's rather touching to see them doing so for their father. Jin'zakk the Batrider is sending one to his father as well, along with some new farming tools. I believe it is safe to assume they will be used for more than that; you may recall I once mentioned his family lives in the Yama Raskav Jungles, after all.

Still others have gone to spend the day with their families. Mirana left last night to visit her family, and likely won't return until tomorrow morning. Ulfsaar, a father himself, decided to take advantage of the significance today held to visit his own family, and like Mirana, left last night to spend as much time with them as possible. Nature's Prophet, while perhaps not technically a father, is spending the day with the Children of Verodica, his eternal companions. While he may always be with them, was a relaxed, fatherly air about him as they went into woods today. As I watched them go off, I was reminded of my younger years, and your own relaxed expression on such occasions with myself and my siblings. On that note, Kaolin was surprised by a gift from Earthshaker today. What it was I cannot say, but it was given to him on the basis that he represents the earth from which the Earthshaker came.

Unfortunately, there is some sadness today as well, as quite a few of our number have deceased fathers. Rhasta the Shadow Shaman gave these heroes candles to light in their memory, before leaving himself to honor his late master, the closest thing to a father he had. Lyralei wrote a letter to her adopted father, and has gone off to honor the father she never knew in her own way. Banehollow took his leave of us for the day as well, and I feel it is safe to assume that we'll be hearing howls this evening. Likewise, Sven has also gone off on his own to remember his father. Rhasta offered his services, but he declined, though thanked him for his offer. Riki did the same when given the same offer, and no one has seen him since then. He's done so before, and I believe I can safely say the other instances were for the same reason; his late family. Sylla has also gone for the same reason, and I am reminded of how heavy his burden is, since he knew as soon as he took it he would outlive them all. Yunero seems to have sequestered himself in his quarters, though I am uncertain if his father perished with the rest of his people when his home sank, or if he had left the world prior to the event. I shan't be asking, though; to do so feels wrong, somehow. Likewise, I won't be inquiring Magnus about his father's state (admittedly more for my own safety), and frankly, the fact he wrote a letter and burned it doesn't actually tell me anything, since it could have been done for safety reasons (he's rather unforthcoming about where his people reside these days for a reason).

I regret having brought their losses up in this letter, but it reminds me of just how lucky I was that you were part of my life as I grew up. Our chosen profession isn't a necessarily safe one, especially at our level, and even the slightest difference could have led to me not needing to write this letter, or you never getting one from me at all. True, nowadays my chances of permanent death in battle have gone down, but only in these battles. Outside of them, there's always the chance someone might get lucky. That threat exists even for you.

That was actually a tad more morbid than I intended.

For better or worse, though I feel mostly for the better for my fellow heroes I have brought up, we have all been shaped by our fathers. Those who are, in a way, fathers, have been shaped by their experiences.

I thank you, father, for being there, and I hope to visit you and mother as soon as I can.

With love, your son,

 _Rubick, the Grand Magus_

* * *

So, quick summary of who's doing what.

Rubick: Writing to his father, Aghanim. Used his father's scepter to win a match earlier.

Lina and Rylai (Crystal Maiden): Writing a letter to their own father. Actually getting along while they do it.

Jin'zakk (Batrider): writing to his father.

Sven: Remembering his father in private.

Rhasta (Shadow Shaman): Remembering his father-figure in private. May or may not try to contact him.

Riki: Remembering his father in private. No one really know where he went.

Sylla (Lone Druid): Remembering his children in private.

Earthshaker: gives a gift to Earth Spirit (who pretty much represents his creator, since his creation led to his).

Children of Verodica: spending the day with Nature's Prophet.

Banehollow (Lycan): Remembering his father in private. Rubick suspects howls will be heard later at night.

Lyralei (Windranger): Writing to her adopted father, and later honoring the late father she never knew.

Magnus: writing a letter he plans on burning. Rubick isn't sure what that means in terms of his health.

Ulfsaar (Ursa): Gone to spend the day with his cubs.

Mirana: Visiting her family.

Yunero (Juggernaut): Remembering his father in private.

I thought about including more, since there are hints of relations between some of the other characters (Mangix, the Brewmaster, is apparently the son of a Celestial Spirit, who I suspect to be Storm Spirit, and shelzie's headcanon of Ember Spirit being Emberdad to some of the other characters is funny, plus Phoenix is possibly related to the Keeper of Light somehow), but it was getting hard thinking of what they would do.

I wasn't originally going to use as many characters as I did, but then I thought "how many other characters are stated to have dads?" and this happened. I'm assuming Mirana's father is still alive, for the record. And as far as I'm concerned, the Aghanim that is Rubick's dad is different from the one in the Zelda universe. I also like to think that Lina and Rylai can get along when they aren't competing or trying to outdo each other.

I might try writing something about Rubick sending a similar letter to his mother for Mother's Day next year, even if all I have for her is my headcanon.

...I'm going to have to send an email about the lack of character tag for Rubick on this site, apparently.


End file.
